Learning and Memory

• Maintenance rehearsal involves the repetition of information to hold it in working memory
• Chunking involves breaking down larger lists into smaller lists for easier processing
• Method of loci involves associating each item in a list with a location around a route through a building that the persona is already familiar with
• The peg word system involves associating numbers with items that rhyme
• Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember events that occurred just prior to the onset of amnesia. It does not occur in healthy individuals
• Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form new memories after the onset of amnesia. It does not occur in healthy individuals
• Proactive interference - a situation in which old memories interfere with the recall of new memories
• Retroactive interference - a situation in which new memories interfere with the recall of old memories
• Acquisition is the process of developing a response to a neutral stimulus that turns it into a conditioned stimulus
• Extinction is the process by which a conditioned response disappears and is no longer elicited by the conditioned stimuli
• Spontaneous recovery is the spontaneous recurrence of a conditioned response that has already undergone extinction
• Generalization is a process in which multiple stimuli elicit the same response
• Avoidance learning occurs when one learns to engage in a behavior to avoid certain undesirable stimulus
• Escape learning is a behavior done to stop an undesirable stimulus that has already started
• Positive punishment reduces a behavior by introducing an undesirable stimulus
• Negative punishment reduces a behavior by removing a desirable stimulus
• Preparedness is the idea that animals are most able to learn behaviors that coincide with their natural behaviors (Ex. A bird learning a pecking-based behavior)
• Latent learning is learning that occurs without a reward, but is later demonstrated when a reward is presented
• Instinctive drift is the tendency for an animal to revert to instinctual behavior after learning a similar behavior